QUARTERLY WEB REPORT
Year: 2014
Month: July – September
Communications:
-
-
-
Presentation of Ranomafana TEAM (Tropical Ecology Assessment and monitoring)
objectives, methodology, activities and rainforest biodiversity to:
o A group of visiting students from the university of Antananarivo: IESGE; ESSA
Science Agronomy department
o Lectures and presentation to the “Study Abroad student groups”. Presentation on
“The values of Biodiversity”; “TEAM project in Ranomafana”; and “Research on
birds in Ranomafana National Park”
o A group of scientific tourists visiting Ranomafana National Park
o A group of high school students “Lycée Maharitra” Fianarantsoa
o Presentation of Centre ValBio and the TEAM program to groups of Malagasy
tourists
Advising and supporting student works for academic degree preparation:
o From the University IFT Antananarivo on field research in “Carbon sequestration,
ecto-mycorrhizal fungi and climate change within Ranomafana National Park”
o “DTS” and “Licence” students from the ISTE (Higher Institutes for Environment
Techniques) University of Fianarantsoa (Elimanantsoa Iharisthine; Ramangason
Aimée Razafindravao) and (Rasoarimalala Hantanirina Paulette; Safidimihanta
Velontahina Josée Anna) in research projects on “Valorisation and distribution of
Pandanus within Talatakely and Ambatolahidimy of Ranomafana forests”; and
“Valorisation of the plant species Psidium cattleyanum in Ranomafana National
Park”
Meeting with a group of people from
o The University of Antananarivo (Agronomy and Vegetal Ecology Departments)
and the SNGF (Silo National des Graines Forêstières) about a potential
collaboration in future socio-economic research on plant species with Ranomafana
National Park: “Threatened endemic key species conservation and their socioeconomic uses”
o The Ranomafana village committee, on rules and management of Ranomafana hotspring swimming pool station
Unusual events:
None
New species:
None
Protocol activities:
Vegetation
During this quarter (July – September 2014), after all field monitoring activities and
reporting were accomplished, plant taxonomic reviews and updates for all the six vegetation plots
had been conducted. Reviews and corrections of the TEAM portal uploaded vegetation data had
been made through the “data management tools”. The six Ranomafana vegetation plots (plot 1 to
plot 6) from the four monitoring years (2010 to 2013) had been the focus of the updates, based on
the following remarks from TEAM Headquarters:
1) Morphospecies definition: Correction of the nomination of the existing morphospecies was
made, following their taxonomic reviews and potential belongings along with each respective
genus within the six Ranomafana vegetation plots (Table 1). (There are five morphospecies
definitions for all six vegetation plots: RNFsp nov, RNFsp1, RNFsp2, RNFsp3, and RNFsp4.)
Table 1. Number of morphospecies individuals and their specification within the six Ranomafana
vegetation plots
Morphospecies / PLOT#
Total stem individuals
1) RNFsp nov (Ind. #)
Nb.associated genera
List of the genera
2) RNFsp1 (Ind. #)
PLOT 1
PLOT 2
PLOT 3
PLOT 4
PLOT 5
PLOT 6
19
0
0
28
1
1
97
23
1
20
16
2
173
8
1
60
0
0
NA
Malleastrum
Malleastrum
Ludia,
Malleastrum
Malleastrum
NA
10
3
11
3
28
7
10
5
79
5
45
8
Nb.associated genera
List of the genera
Caseria,
Cryptocarya,
Noronhia,
Peponidium,
Peponidium Sarcolaena
3) RNFsp2 (Ind. #)
3
2
Nb.associated genera
List of the genera
Psychotria,
Syzygium
4) RNFsp3 (Ind. #)
Nb.associated genera
List of the genera
5) RNFsp4 (Ind. #)
Nb.associated genera
List of the genera
6
1
5
2
Potameia,
Syzygium
11
1
Peponidium Cryptocarya
0
0
0
0
NA
NA
Cassinopsis,
Cryptocarya,
Noronhia,
Polyscias,
Protorhus,
Syzygium,
Tambourissa
22
1
Tambourissa
17
1
Tambourissa
7
1
Cryptocarya
Dypsis,
Noronhia,
Polyscias,
Potameia,
Vitex
3
1
Peponidium
1
1
Peponidium
Abrahamia,
Lemyrea,
Polyscias,
Syzygium,
Vitex
13
1
Syzygium
73
1
Cryptocarya
Clerodendrum,
Ixora,
Noronhia,
Peponidium,
Polyscias,
Psychotria,
Ravenea,
Sarcolaena
15
2
Cryptocarya,
Ravenea
0
0
NA
0
0
0
0
0
0
NA
NA
NA
2) Correction of some errors in the recorded DBH had also been made, by verifying DBH data
from field taken records; and also in-site checking for stems with confusing DBH recorded data or
missing.
3) Verification and confirmation of some errors due to the automatically duplicated records in
TEAM portal was also reported (for example: VT-RNF-6-8 is a multistem tree but the extension
was not recorded in the portal)
4) Confirmation of some trees which did not show changes in their DBH over the years of
monitoring. Field recorded data over the past four years had been consulted and verified with the
entered ones.
5) Multistem individuals:
- All existing multistems within the six vegetation plots had also been verified (Table 2).
Correction was made for other non-multistem individuals. For example, VT-RNF-3-395 is not a
multistem, while VT-RNF-3-396 is.
Table 2. Recapitulative table of the number of multistem individuals within each of the six
Ranomafana vegetation plots
Multistem individuals
Total individual numbers
With 2 individuals (pairs)
Total Number (individuals)
With 3 individuals (pairs)
Total Number (individuals)
With 4 individuals (pairs)
Total Number (individuals)
PLOT 1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
PLOT 2
36
15
30
2
6
0
0
PLOT 3
52
26
52
0
0
0
0
PLOT 4
5
1
2
1
3
0
0
PLOT 5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
PLOT 6
10
3
6
0
0
1
4
- Some errors were also found in the recorded data, which had been named automatically
wrong in the TEAM portal. They might have been saved and modified automatically within the
TEAM portal data base. For example, the multistems with two stems and number 920 at plot 3
were saved as “VT-RNF-3-920.101 and VT-RNF-3-920.202). However, the correct ones should
be “VT-RNF-3-920.01 and VT-RNF-3-920.02”. Those errors had been reported to the TEAM
Headquarters for correction.
- Other case of multistems had also been reported: VT-RNF-3-392 used to be a multistem
of two tagged-trees in 2010; but one of the stems: “VT-RNF-3-392.2” had been missing since
2011, so there is only one stem since 2011
6) Some reviews and corrections had also been made for the taxa-typo and taxonomic names of
the plant species list. Corrections were based on taxonomic information from the web site of
“Tropicos”. Example of the typo errors concerned especially at the family and species levels, such
as, family of Torricelliaceae for Melanophylla crenata instead of family of family
Melanophyllaceae; and the typo error in species name, like, S. betsimisarakaum corrected as
Sideroxylon betsimisarakum.
- For plot 3, in site taxonomic verification/confirmation and correction had to be made for
some individual stems due to the confusion in the recorded data (Table 3)
Table 3. In-site taxonomic verification of some stems at Plot 3 (Andranofady)
Subplot
#
Ind No.
Family
Genus
Species
No.
1
24
1
Myrtaceae
Syzygium
bernieri
2
29
1
Malvaceae
Grewia
apetala
3
30
1
Cunoniaceae
Weinmannia bojeriana
4
31
1
Malvaceae
Grewia
apetala
5
146.01
3
Lauraceae
Cryptocarya
thouvenotii
6
243
4
Clusiaceae
Garcinia
tsaratananensis
7
303
5
Salicaceae
Ludia
scolopioides
8
389
6
Myrtaceae
Syzygium
bernieri
9
392.01
6
Anacardiaceae Micronychia tsiramiramy
10
392.02
7
Anacardiaceae Micronychia tsiramiramy
11
395.02
7
Rubiaceae
Pyrostria
perrieri
12
397
7
Euphorbiaceae Hancea
capuronii
13
398
7
Myrtaceae
Syzygium
bernieri
14
403
7
Clusiaceae
Garcinia
tsaratananensis
15
404
7
Myrtaceae
Syzygium
bernieri
16
389
6
Myrtaceae
Thus, all vegetation excels data for the six Ranomafana plots for the four years monitoring
(2010 to 2013) have been updated. About 94% of Ranomafana TEAM site plants have been
taxonomically identified at the species level within all the six vegetation plots. 56 families within
120 genera and 205 species and plus 31 morphospecies have been recognized. Verification of the
vegetation coordinates will still need in site confirmation during the next monitoring period. In
order to be ready for the next monitoring season (2013 – 2014), preparation of the, field
equipment, inventory, and checking have also been started. Calibrations of some field equipments
have been initiated along with preparation of the field monitoring data sheets.
Terrestrial Vertebrates
Inventory of all camera traps were done after being cleaned and tested for their functioning.
Cameras which produced bad pictures from the field monitoring were re-tested and confirmed for
their states. Some of the cameras were sent back to the US for repair (Table 4).
Table 4. Malfunctioned camera traps which were sent to the U.S. for repairs
#
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Camera Number
9
4
6
8
10
12
14
15
16
20
21
27
29
Serial number
RM13AC 03003348
RM13AC 03003325
RM13AC 03003391
RM13AC 03003387
RM13AC 03003385
RM13AC 03003363
RM13AC 05003744
RM13AC 03003394
RM13AC 03003389
RM13AC 03003393
RM13AC 02003103
RM13AC 07004031
RM13AC 03003392
Remarks
Partially bad pictures
All taken pictures were fuzzy
All taken pictures were fuzzy
All taken pictures were fuzzy
All taken pictures were fuzzy
All taken pictures were fuzzy
All taken pictures were fuzzy
All taken pictures were fuzzy
All taken pictures were fuzzy
All taken pictures were fuzzy
All taken pictures were fuzzy
Not working
All taken pictures were fuzzy
Thirteen (13) out of the 30 existing cameras (“45 Reconyx Rapid Fire”) were sent back to
the U.S. for repair. From discussion with the TEAM Headquarters, additional camera traps were
also purchased. In a total of seventeen (17) new “Reconix Hyper fire” cameras (with a smaller
size) were obtained. Other field equipment and materials were also inventoried and recalibrated.
Prior to the upcoming field monitoring, update of the field sheets and planning scheduler had been
discussed.
Climate
Regular Climate data collection and climate station maintenance have been continuing.
Monthly climate data have been collected regularly and climate station maintenance has been done
twice a month. Inventory of all climate equipment and materials have also been done. No major
issue was found with the climate equipments. During this quarter (July – September), there was
an obvious increase in average temperature from July to September 2014 (Figure 1), while the
relative humidity showed a noticeable decrease (Figure 2). The month of August demonstrated
the least total rainfall after a remarkable drop off from July 2014 (243,59 mm to 114,81 mm)
(Figure 3). Then, a slight increase in total rainfall was noticed in September 2014. Similarly with
the average of monthly rainfall, a decrease of rainfall was recorded from July 2014; then the
month of August 2014 represented the least average rainfall, followed by a slight increase in
September 2014 (Figure 4).
Table 5. Variation of Average Temperature, Average Relative Humidity, and RainFall (with the
minimum and maximum) from July to September 2014 at Ranomafana TEAM Climate station
TEMPERATURE (°C)
Avg
Max
JULY
14,07
23,03
AUGUST
15,03
SEPTEMBER
16,06
RELATIVE HUMIDITY (%)
Min
RAIN FALL (mm)
Avg
Max
Min
Sum
Avg
Max
Min
7,17
91,96
99,97
36,11
243,59
0,027
1,52
0
26,76
5,16
86,18
99,93
12,63
114,81
0,012
1,02
0
25,48
3,36
84,19
99,9
28,48
133,35
0,02
2,79
0
Fig 1. Average temperature (in °C) during the quarter July to September 2014 within Ranomafana
TEAM site
Fig 2. Average Relative Humidity (in % smp) during the quarter July to September 2014 within
Ranomafana TEAM site
Fig 3. Average Rainfall (in mm) during the quarter July to September 2014 within Ranomafana
TEAM site
Fig 4. Total Rainfall (in mm) during the quarter July to September 2014 within Ranomafana
TEAM site
protocol problems:
None
schedule problems:
None
logistical problems:
None
suggestions:
None